Press Releases

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) announced that effective today, Thursday, January 21, a weight limit for trucks will be in place on the Broad Street Bridge in Pawtucket. The change also impacts the nearby Barton Street Bridge, as both structures share common supporting elements where they span Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and the Providence & Worcester Railroad freight line.

An inspection of the Broad Street Bridge in late December found significant steel deterioration, which, upon further analysis of the structure's load carrying capacity, resulted in a need to set a weight limit on the bridge. The limits will be set at 10 tons for two axle vehicles, 16 tons for three axle vehicles and 18 tons for four axle vehicles. The same limits will be set for the Barton Street Bridge.

Detour routes for trucks will be established for both the Broad Street and Barton Street Bridges. The detours are as follows:

Detour maps with turn-by-turn directions can be found online at www.dot.ri.gov/detourmaps.

RIDOT will make repairs to both bridges to address steel deterioration as part of a statewide bridge repair contract set to be advertised in late summer with work beginning in early 2017. Given the findings of the recent inspection and need to set a weight limit, RIDOT will work to expedite the project. The estimated cost of the repairs is approximately $645,000.